Wednesday, December 21, 2016

Rubicon Project: Our System Protected From Big Russian Ad Fraud Operation

Los Angeles-based advertising marketplace operator Rubicon Project and its partner White Ops, a provider of human verification services for the digital ad market, said their combined efforts have protected buyers on sellers on Rubicon's marketplace from a major Russian advertising fraud effort uncovered this month. The two said they have been protecting its users from the "Methbot" fraud operation--which reportedly was hauling in $3M to $5M a day from phony web sites and ads--ad was generating as many as 200 to 300 million non human impressions on ads every day. The Russian operation apparently set up their own network of fake web publishers, which were used to collect payments from displaying video based ads, which were shown to a network of "bots" rather than real humans. The "Methbot" operation even went as far as to use special web browsing software to mimic the mouse movements, pauses, and clicks of a human, to fool anti-bot software.